Let Them Explore #30GoalsEdu

“Children are born passionately eager to make as much sense as they can of things around them. If we attempt to control, manipulate, or divert this process…the independent scientist in the child disappears.” ~ John Holt

In goal 26, we talked about nurturing curiosity. One of the reasons schools fail to nurture curiosity is because the curriculum fails to provide students enough time to explore and experiment with new knowledge. When our learners are introduced to new material, they are often provided with tons of information to digest. What if we changed the dynamic? What if our students walked into our classes and just had a question to work with? What if we wrote one statement, word, or question on the board, then offered students a chance to search online for as much information as they could? What if we gave our students time to ask other students about the topic and see what information they could gather as a group? I bet many of our students would find some of the information their textbooks detail.

Many of us will begin a new semester with students. We have some experience teaching with our current curriculums. We have the ability to inspect our curriculum and make changes. We have the power to teach our subject matter in various ways. We can take out some of the tests and have students complete projects instead.

Goal

Short-term– Review your curriculum and change at least one lesson plan or assessment to support student exploration and experimentation.

Long-term– Throughout the year begin to provide less information to students and have them complete tasks that help them discover the information on their own.

Goal

The following resources will help you adapt your curriculum to support student exploration and experimentation.

Shelly Sanchez Terrell (@ShellTerrell) is an award winning digital innovator, an international speaker/consultant, and the author of Hacking Digital Learning with EdTech Missions, The 30 Goals Challenge for Teachers, and Learning to Go. She has trained teachers and taught English language learners in over 20 countries as an invited guest expert by organizations, like the US Embassy, UNESCO Bangkok, Cultura Inglesa of Brazil, the British Council in Tel Aviv, IATEFL Slovenia, HUPE Croatia, ISTEK Turkey, and Venezuela TESOL. She has been recognized by several organizations and publications as a leader in the movement of teacher driven professional development as the founder and organizer of various online conferences, Twitter chats, and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Two of the projects she co-organized were shortlisted for ELTons, #ELTChat and the Virtual Round Table Language and Technology online conference. She was named Woman of the Year by the National Association of Professional Women, awarded a Bammy Award as a founder of #Edchat, and named as one of the 10 Most Influential People in EdTech by Tech & Learning. Her greatest joy is being the mother of baby Savannah and Rosco the pug.
Shelly has an Honors BA in English with a Minor in Communication and a specialization in Electronic Media from UTSA, a Masters in Curriculum Instruction ESL from the University of Phoenix, and a CELTA from CELT Athens. She regularly shares her tips for effective technology integration via Twitter (@ShellTerrell), Facebook.com/ShellyTerrell, and on her blog, TeacherRebootCamp.com, which has won several awards and recognitions as one of the top ESL, Edtech and Elearning blogs. Find over 400 of her slide presentations at https://www.slideshare.net/ShellTerrell/presentations

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FULL DISCLOSURE: Although you will find hundreds of free web tools and apps listed on this blog, some of the links might be affiliate links or links shared with payment or service of some kind to the blogger.

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FULL DISCLOSURE: Although you will find hundreds of free web tools and apps listed on this blog, some of the links might be affiliate links or links shared with payment or service of some kind to the blogger.